Tragic Visions Pt 3
by Killer I Am
Summary: Someone or something is using some bad magick on Dante haunting him with memories he cannot place. Is it just his imagination or is it really his "other"? He can't just dwell on this though a gate has opened and a strange Hell is running loose!
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER III

The sword arched through the air hacking the human in half. The blood looked almost black through the blinded red of rage! Looking to the right, he saw the body of a young female propped up against the wall, a bullet hole directly between the eyes. From the corner of his eye he saw a man rush around the corner down another hall, but before the man could even pass the corner the large sword thudded into his side pinning him against the corner of the wall. The sword was flung with such speed it was like a nail being ejected from a nail-gun! Pulling his guns from their holsters, he rounded the corner and fired a blizzard of shots; a few of the bullets actually hit their targets. The clips hit the floor with a metallic clunk; the man smirked as he heard the screams of surprise from the others in the house. Mainly, the horde of other bullets was just for show, to make them pray out of fear to their gods.

_Why?_ Dante, the dreamer, wondered. _Why, kill these people? Were there demons here? Was there a Hell Gate somewhere in this house?_ So many questions were swimming around in his head like a school of frightened fish.

Dante, the vision—the nightmare—holstered his guns and pulled the sword from body and wall, sheathing it as he stalked down the hall.

As he rounded the corner a middle aged man from the looks of it, pulled open a drawer from the small oddly placed dresser in the middle of the hall, from it he produced a six-shooter. The man started to pull the trigger, each bullet missed by a mile it seemed. _That's four_, Dante (the nightmare) thought. The other pulled the trigger once more; Dante tilted his head slightly as the bullet zipped by to splinter the wall behind him. Dante shoved his fist into the man's gut; the gun fell from the hands of the middle aged man. Dante then kicked the six-shooter father down the hall; he latched his hand around the man's neck with a vise like grip! He unsheathed his sword and drove it through the man's stomach. He put the sword back on its sheath.

"No!" he heard someone farther down the hall shout; he took out Ebony and pulled the trigger twice. After passing a few rooms he saw the body of the one who had shouted lying in a pool of blood, a smile slowly formed upon his face.

Dante heard foot steps turning he saw a blond woman grab the six-shooter. He narrowed his eyes and rushed towards her. She held the gun with both hands like a pro; she lifted it and squeezed the trigger. He watched in amazement as the bullet rushed towards him, it slammed into his forehead! Blood spackled the wall and floor, Dante flipped onto his back. _How?_ The nightmare wondered. The bullet popped out, he slowly wiped the blood from his face and stood. Dante glared at the woman, she turned to run, and he let off another shot. He heard a muffled cry.

"Now that had to hurt," he called mockingly. "I could hear the bone shatter from here!"

She had heard the stranger's foot steps, she looked up; Dante kicked her with an odd intensity. He lifted her from the floor.

"I'll be gracious, and leave you to tell this story to your children…if you have any!" Dante backhanded her with his pistol.

He made his way down into the basement without anymore interruptions, except of course for the nauseatingly hard bash to the back of the head after he had come down the stairs and around the corner. Dante kicked the man (he assumed it was a man) against the wall. Grabbing the baseball bat from the human, he then rammed it through the others chest!

_How did I conjure this up? _Dante (the dreamer) wondered.

Dante (the nightmare) looked around, he smirked as he saw the door; he kicked it open a middle aged woman lunged out at him. Dante caught her by the chin; he clamped his hand on the back of her head. He pressed down and twisted viciously, his smirk became a full smile as he heard the woman's neck snap!

Dante dropped the body, seeing a little girl in the room crying, she couldn't have been but six years old.

"What's wrong with you?" he sighed.

"I miss my daddy."

He smirked, "And where are your parents?"

She shivered and answered: "I hope they're in Heaven with Jesus."

"Jesus?" he asked, the smirk once again becoming an ear-to-ear grin. "Do you believe in Christ? God?"

She nodded; he put the gun in her face. "Please stop crying, you will see your mommy and daddy—today! You know who else you'll see?" Dante pulled the trigger, blowing a nice hole in her head; she slid down the wall onto her side. "…Jesus."

Dante awoke with a start, crying out! He sat there on that couch, breathing hard now. After a minute he slowed his breathing, he listened closely. The stereo was playing, the song was almost over, and he wiped the sweat from his forehead and face.

_No Dante_, he soothed, _you're not the one who's so far away_ . . .

He swung his legs over the side of the couch; his feet touch the cold floor. Dante combed his fingers through his hair; his eyes shifted up to the opening door before him. A silhouette of a figure stood there, a tattered—well it looked like a trench coat used to reside on the shoulders of this one, but most of the front was chopped off—Dante now called it the "Valentine Shawl". Dante shook his head, chuckling as he did so. The man's black hair was just as untamed as it was the day he had met him.

"Vincent Valentine," Dante sighed with a laugh. "So you were the one who saved me today, huh?" The other said nothing. Vincent turned his head slightly, the light beamed on his eyes, revealing the red iris. _I thought as much_, he thought.

"Is he finally up?" came a voice from the other room, he knew the voice: Trish.

Vincent nodded.

Dante's brow furrowed, he lifted an eyebrow. "How long have I been out?"

Vincent turned to him. "Twenty-two hours," he answered in that deep dark voice of his.

Dante inhaled, stretched, he smelled coffee. _No chance in hell Vincent drinks that crap!_ Then again, who really knew, only Vincent Valentine knew himself…sometimes Dante wondered if Vincent even knew that—did this shadowy figure know who he, himself was?

Another song ended with a horrifying cry, sounding like one of the abyss. Dante finally stood, stretched yet again. Vincent backed away from the door, and Dante walked through. As he walked into the large lounging area, the hammering of drums filled his ears and then sound of the ritualistic voice of Sully Erna. He studied the room and the faces around him, he saw Lady sitting on the banister he could tell by the expression upon her face she did like this new visitor. No, it couldn't be fear he saw in her eyes.

Dante walked into the kitchen. "So Vincent," he asked, "mind telling me what the hell is going on?"

Vincent merely stood there but found a seat. Dante rolled his eyes, walked to the stereo and turned it off. He turned to see that Vincent's expression had not changed a bit. Dante shook his head; he yet again made his way to the kitchen. He turned,

"Anybody else interested in some food?"

Vincent crossed his arms and shifted his eyes to stare upon Dante. Dante met his gaze, then shifted his own to Lady a "no" from her and a shake of the head from Trish.

Dante shrugged, "Fine, the only time we actually have food in this godforsaken place—" Dante never really intended on finishing this statement.

"Dante," said Vincent calmly, "these Hell Gates are rising at an alarming speed."

"Hell Gates rise up all time," Dante spat quickly, "what's any different about this one?"

"But not these, Dante," Vincent breathed in such a placid voice, it was as if, Dante thought, that he messed around with crap like this all the time. "You know this for a fact…they are not the regular type…they're spreading like a disease, infesting the Earth…"

Dante knew this to be true, and for some odd reason, he wanted to deny it. He turned back to see Vincent standing arms still crossed, he heard his voice even though Vincent's lips were not moving: _"If you dismiss this phenomenon…_it will_ happen again."_

He gave him a look as if to ask: _"What? Why?"_

This was the response Dante received: _"_It_, Dante, something more apocalyptic than one could imagine…we shall discover this . . ."_

_It_, what was this? Was it his nightmares? Were they truly a memory?

Lady looked at the two wondering what was happening, she could feel a strong amount of psyche energy flowing through the room. Trish looked up at Lady, seeing the woman's blue eye and the red—almost pink eye; there was a look of question within them. Lady looked down raising an eyebrow, and turning her head to the side a bit. Trish shrugged, whatever was going on it was between Dante and Vincent, and it was meant to stay that way. Trish already knew Dante was not going to speak to her about this interaction later.

They both watched as Dante pulled a box of pizza from the fridge, he took out a slice looked at it for a moment and put it back, he then grabbed the bag of bread from the cabinet. Taking two slices out and laying them on the counter, he took the slice of pizza back from its place tore the crust off and folded the pizza placing it one of the loaves. He stuck the crust in his mouth as he opened the fridge again, he was searching for something.

Lady could still feel the telepathic energy, it was steadily dropping though. Something then came to her attention.

"Tuna's by your head in the meat drawer, on top of the ham!" she called out, almost without thinking. "And we keep the ketchup in the cabinet with the Peanut-butter and Mao . . ."

He turned his head to look at her from his half-crouched position, his white hair sliding over his face to hang there. He half squinted and clicked his tongue.

"Thanks," he said, he looked to Vincent who wore half a smirk. Now taking the tuna he shut the fridge door, got the ketchup and slapped them onto the other loaf, then finally massed them together. Picking it up, he took a large bight out of it. The look upon his face said he was satisfied and was impressed with himself.

Lady felt the telepathy clear the air. She knew somehow Vincent had filled the room with his power—more or less thought this—but the thing that was prodding, pinching and pulling at her mind was—she knew Trish was wondering the same, she'd been able to tap into the power before it had dissipated—how did this Vincent Valentine and Dante know each other? Where did their history collide?

_Sometime before Trish's time_, thought Lady, _or while she was away_...

Dante was moving towards his chair which was behind his desk, he took another large bight out of that sandwich, Trish wrinkled her nose in disgust. Vincent turned his head to look at the white haired man.

"Dante, we're all in great pearl."

"This," he shot back, "I know."

"You know it, but you won't believe it," he countered, "this is why you couldn't defeat it the first time. It's coming back and it won't hesitate to—" he dropped his sandwich, jumped up quickly and led Vincent to the door, grabbing his coat on the way out.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER IV

"Okay," said Dante, "you were saying something about, 'It won't hesitate'?"

"Yes, it will not hesitate to strike again," answered Vincent, "infest your body with its poison, take you over again . . ."

"I didn't feel like myself," said Dante in a low voice, "I felt possessed. I was—"

"Belligerent," Vincent nodded.

"Uh-huh…I killed a family, and I don't know why," he looked to Vincent, but the man shook his head.

"Even I don't know the logic behind your actions."

Dante sighed with a bit of relief; at least the man didn't have _all_ the answers, but apart of him was mortified still. "Great," he sighed, "where do we go from here? I don't remember everything that happened…and I'm the only one with these memories—" he was startled by this conclusion which had come to him "—Virgil! Virgil is the only other that would know."

Vincent shook his head. "If I recall correctly you ran across another in which the blood of your father, Sparda runs through…Nero . . ."

Dante was taken aback. "Nero didn't even know who the hell I was! He didn't even know I existed—" something else came to mind "—Vincent, what if it wasn't me. Do you think it could've been my father?"

"Do not start, lying to yourself Dante," said Vincent quickly, "if you start to blot out your initial feelings, then you _will_ lose the truth. Nero may hold…a piece of the puzzle—if you will—and Virgil will know, not much—more than Nero—but he will know. The rest lies in you . . ."

"Vincent," said Dante slowly, "how am I supposed to know these things when I can't re—" a vision flashed before his eyes, it was the house and a pentagram beneath it, these words came to his mind:

"_Latosîs Měda'stōmuse Eárïsta'mockú-ağos"_

_I read it wrong_, realized Dante. Or maybe it had two meanings. Was it a spell?

"_Go infest the Earth, the death of it all lies in your hands."_

Dante knew that voice, it was not human yet it was so very human.

"Go infest the Earth, the death of it all lies in your hands," repeated Dante.

"An old ritual, used to command Demons," commented Vincent, "I wonder how they used it to control you, a hybrid . . ."

"I don't know and right now I don't care," said Dante, "but I'll find em…and I _will_ make them pay!"

"Then I'll be coming with you," said Vincent.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER V

Clowns, he really hated these things—not just clowns in general—especially these clowns, the ones with sharp teeth and razor sharp talons. The ones that looked to be held together by others body parts. Legs made of swords; some of them looked like your average clown, except of course for the red eyes. Two bullets molded themselves to the skull one of the clowns, a two barreled gun was now smoking. A younger man with white hair blew the smoke away. He then pulled the trigger a total of five times. Lying in very rank smelling pools of blood, the clowns were no more. Nero holstered the gun and smirked.

Why were they here though? Nero—at least as far as he knew—hadn't come in contact with anymore demons…two years it had been! He stood there in the dead silence, narrowed his eyes, he saw one of the clowns slowly trying to crawl away. Nero's jaw tightened, his nostrils flared, he stalked toward the clown and as he brought his foot down upon the clown's head, busting it like a pumpkin, shouted (seemingly the answer to his own question): "DANTE!!"

Blood spackled his pants and covered his boot. Nero shook his head; he was actually starting to relax finally—until now!

_I hope that he was high_, Nero thought angrily. _Though, Dante doesn't truly know how it is to have a family_. As he turned away from the scene, he touched the door—something flashed before his eyes—he his breaths were shaky and he backed away from the door. Nero had never seen that house before…nor had he seen that couple in bed. He took out his sword, plunged it through the door! Florescent green blood leaked through, Nero kicked the door off its hinges. Laughter, laughter from the floor—the body which lay underneath the door…Nero gripped the sword tightly. That laughter seemed to crawl across the floor from the body, up his leg into his skin up his spinal-cord, then etching itself into his skull.

"What's so funny, huh?" asked Nero as he kicked the door up and off the demon, grabbing it—this clown was different from the others, it was wearing a cape, and red non-baggy suit beneath. Its face was somewhat disturbing as well.

The demon kept laughing. Nero punched it square in the face.

"You're all screwed!" the clown choked up through its laughter. "You are all doomed! You, and Dante—oh Dante especially!—and Virgil…oh haha! Wait, Virgil is deep in hell! HAHAHA!!"

"As far as I see it," sneered Nero as he threw the thing to the ground, "you're the one that's screwed!" He swung his sword, and as he walked away he wiped the blood from his face.

As Nero walked into his house, he felt there was something out of place. Gripping his gun tight, he ran up the stairs. The door to Kyrie and his room was cracked open. Nero peered in; he licked his lips and kicked the door farther open! He had his gun ready just in case. Kyrie sat up with a start, it startled Nero as well. He gave a sigh of frustration and relief, but he noticed a half empty glass of water on the desk to his right; Nero's inference had been correct.

"So," asked Nero, "who stopped by?"

"Dante did," answered Kyrie. _Of course_, he thought. "He said he needs to talk with you."

"About what?"

Kyrie shook her head. "He didn't say. Though, he did say if you would stop by later, he would appreciate it."

Nero nodded. "Yeah," he draped his jacket over the chair at the desk, after taking off his shirt he looked at Kyrie, "go back to bed." He tossed the shirt into the hamper.

Dante was moving closer to that building…his home. He opened the door, the lights were all out. _Did they leave?_ Dante wondered. He took a step forward; he could hear his footfalls echoing...he never liked that.

The lights flickered. There was a loud click; the lights flared, covering the dark like a blanket. Dante brought his hand up to shield his eyes, a smile perched itself upon his lips for a few seconds. That is until he saw who was sitting in the middle of the room.

The man smiled, brightly in that white deceitful suite. The man laughed as he watched Dante's expression change to disgust.

"Dante, Dante, you haven't changed a bit!" exclaimed the man. "I like that in soul…especially one such as you."

"What happened to a simple hello, Lucy?" Dante asked. "Why are you here?"

"Oh, I don't know. It might have something to do with those memories—then again it might not—it could be that _you_ opened a door that was never supposed to be open!"

Dante, leaned against the wall, crossed his arms and sighed: "Has anyone told you that faggoty white outfit really suites you?"

The man suddenly stood. "Don't start screwing with me, Dante!"

"_Tsk_! Screwing with you, huh? Just cut the crap, and tell me what the freak is going on, Lu!"

"Oh, you wanna know what's going on!" mocked Lucifer. "Well, I'll tell you! You opened up a Hell Gate, which should've stayed closed, because now Angels are running wild through my world!"

"Your world?" asked Dante, mockingly. "I thought the Big Man Upstairs, made this—"

"This! This _hellhole_! If I could've had it my way I would have made it perfect! The way _He_ wanted it, but couldn't achieve, you know why that is Dante?" the other shook his head, and a sneer was starting to creep along his lips. "Because he was constantly looking for affection from us…and then of course that's why he made the humans. I loved him more than anything—"" tears started swelling up in the corners of his eyes as he looked at the hands of his human capsule—"and Michel became jelious, because I, Lucifer was God's favorite! God did not want rivalry among his creations…so he pushed me down here, with you! All I—""

"Luc, I wouldn't believe you in a million years…I know what you do. You are a liar! An even worse liar than myself I might add."

Lucifer leapt from his chair, he was at least an inch from Dante when he stopped in midair. Dante smirked, and slammed his fist into the face of Lucifer; tearing the flesh away and revealing the hideous scaly leather skin of the King of Devils. Lucifer flew back into the wall, sliding down to the floor. Dante drew a small pistol from his boot. He stalked up to the Devil, pulled the hammer back chambering in a round; he started laughing as Lucifer whipped blood from his mouth and looked up with a strange expression of fright and rage.

"I never thought I'd be shooting the Devil," he said with a laugh as he pulled the trigger. After the bullet had penetrated Lucifer's large black eye, he vanished in cloud of sulfuric blood. Dante knew it wouldn't kill it, but he did know old Lucy would think twice before giving him another unexpected visit.

_Angels_, Dante thought; _I could use a little more help around here_.

Vincent made an impatient face as the redheaded man with the nice suite, of which he wore haphazardly, flicked flint wheel igniter lazily. After a minute it finally light, he inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, the smoke had sweet fragrance to it unlike the ordinary cigarettes. Vincent started tapping his clawed fingers. The other raised an eyebrow at this, as he pulled the cigarette from his lips. Smoke streamed from his nostrils as he sighed.

"Chill out, man," said the redhead.

Vincent's fingers kept tapping at the marble tabletop. He and the redhead seemed to be having a starring contest. Once again the redhead inhaled, he thought about blowing the smoke in Vincent's face, but decided not to. He turned away from the man; he knew all too well what that would do to Vincent Valentine.

"We need your help," Vincent ground out, "Reno . . ."

"…Uh-hu," sighed Reno, "just answer me this Vincent—" he took another deep inhalation of smoke sorting his word carefully—"if you know where he is, why don't you just tell Dante yourself?"

"Dante needs to learn how to destroy this on his own," answered Vincent, "I can only help so much."

"Just like with Cloud," the other said, "though I don't understand why you can't go and get the damn weapon yourself, and hand it over to him."

Vincent shook his head, "Dante knows where it is, he also knows what he needs—"

Reno began to understand, he pointed at Vincent. "He just doesn't know—" Reno rolled his eyes up as if he was reading an invisible script and raised an eyebrow—"that…he knows…"

Vincent nodded, after he gulped down the last of his drink. He stood, Reno grabbed his arm: "Wait! Why do you need my help?"

The lips on the pale males face tugged a bit to the side. "Well, when Dante figures out what it is and where it is…he's going to need transportation, is he not?"

Reno's shoulders sunk.

"And you never know, Nero may need a little help. You just need to follow him, make sure he stays on the right path."

Reno glared, and sneered as he snapped: "NO!! No more, I don't want to be any more connected to hell and demons anymore!"

"Reno," countered Vincent calmly, "you owe me . . ."

Reno looked away; he knew he couldn't avoid this.

"Can I?" asked Vincent pointing to the cigarette. Reno looked at Vincent, to the cigarette, then back again; Reno nodded. Reno handed it to him. The pale, red eyed man inhaled deeply. He let the crystal smoke out slowly, Reno closed his eyes as some of it crept across his face. The crimson eyes locked on to the ash cup, he snuffed out the cigarette.

Reno chuckled, and started coughing, smirking as he said playfully: "Careful, too many of the real ones will make your life a living hell."

Vincent Valentine was two steps from the door when he stopped, he turned his head slightly, just enough to see Reno from the corner of his eye.

"Welcome to my life . . ."


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 6

She had to bare those terrible cries of rage for what seemed like a lifetime.

"Why won't you come down here?!" shouted Dante. "I once trusted you. You said you'd always be there for me! But you're not...you never were. So where are you?"

He felt movement in the air; he drew _Ivory_ with lightning speed and aimed to his right where the figure stood. Dante lowered his weapon and after a few heartbeats of silence he started laughing.

"A real Angel!" he exclaimed. "You wanna maybe tell me why you're here? I mean, everybody else from your district has."

The man clothed in golden armor and a light that seemed to be as bright as the sun, yet it was not a burden upon the eyes, chuckled a bit before answering: "I, Mervyn, have been sent to give you answers. The Lord has appointed His and our eyes on you lately. You know this just as well as I do: You were never condemned from birth; you can still have life in Heaven. Dante, you must believe…that is the only way—"

"I've heard it all before," Dante sighed, "well I believe, I see the exact things you do!"

"But do you have _faith_, Dante?" countered Mervyn.

Dante smirked. "You never said you would be playing religious games with me. I _believe_ you said: Answers! Am I right?"

Mervyn nodded, he knew Dante wasn't in the mood for just _any_ talk, he wanted straight talk—answers.

"Fine," replied Mervyn, "you want answers; I'll give them to you…"

"Go on!"

"Dante, you shouldn't portray yourself in such a fashion! We all know you are not a stone cold…" the angel's face contorted in a strange fashion.

The other laughed and shook his head. "Bastard?"

"Yes, as the humans call them," replied Mervyn, "you never asked a question, but as you say: I'll cut to the chase. You need to find Vergil, have you not realized that you have not had any "flashbacks" recently? It is because it is all locked away, tightly hidden within the bowels of your skull. I will go ahead and warn you, that I will not give you any of the answers you are seeking, except one…it is you . . ."

And with that the angel faded from the room. Dante looked left then right…

"What good is that supposed to do me?!" he shouted, his words echoing through the building. "And how am I supposed to find Vergil? Last time I checked, he found himself a nice little corner of Hell!"

A voice called out from the stairs, which almost made him jump. "Did you ever stop to think that maybe, he found a way to check himself out?"

"Good Lord, Lady—" his face changed from somewhat startled to that of frustration and a bit embarrassed—"how long have you been standing there?"

Lady took a breath and thought for a moment.

"Long enough," she answered.

Dante rolled his eyes and plopped himself into a chair. He rested his fist on his cheek and sighed: "I need a privacy policy . . ."

Lady trotted down the stairs, oddly enough Dante found he was watching her with great interest…it was in the way she moved more than anything. He had seen it somewhere else before, at least that's what he was telling himself. Dante suddenly realized, it was the dream—that stupid child's dream! Yet, it brought back a memory that he couldn't place, the movement—

_The couple in bed!_ A fiery hole appeared seemingly in the middle of the room; he stood and slowly moved toward it. He had seen it before; he inhaled deeply, stepped in. Dante was stepping into a completely different world.

_Could it be an alternate universe?_ Dante rolled his eyes at his own "geek" question and answered himself: _Yeah, trekky, you're really on to something there_ . . .

He took a brief look at his surroundings, it was dark—laughter erupted from the still silence. He watched as the man shushed her, she still giggled; their bodies flickered and flashed to the bed, he backed away from the couple. Dante could almost feel the hormones in the air, he felt a bit embarrassed; he felt a cold wind that, once it crept its way across half his skin, quickly rose to a searing temperature! He heard the footfalls of a distant figure (obviously only he could hear them; however), a man stalked in he stood quickly drawing his sword. The other drew his, walking towards the bed ever so slowly now.

The shadowy figure lifted the blade, aiming the tip at the two lovers. Rays of light from the full—almost blue—moon entered through the window, illuminating the figure. The man was wearing a red trench-coat, white hair his eyes darted to Dante's own and his mouth formed into a corkscrewed smirk that sent chills down his spine! It was him, himself he was starring at! Blood sprayed Dante and the other's face, as the sword plunged into the female, it was then whipped and spun, the man in bed shrieked—the sword moved in a downward arch beheading the man! In that same arch he brought it back down plunging it through the woman's chest.

Dante couldn't believe it; the other was smiling—smiling with ecstasy! The other took the crimson painted sheets and pulled them over the bodies. The other turned, going to the doorway, family members were forming outside.

"What's going on?"

A dark haired man stepped forward. "What the—who in the hell are you?!"

"Maybe you'll find out." Bullet shells _ping_ed against the floor wildly. Blood, brains, blood Dante had never felt this sick…_Ebony_ flashed to the right twice, another body sunk to the floor. The other drove through someone's ankle, _Ivory_ kept its pace, and then stopped. The other stalked toward the room where the person had crawled, honestly what was the man thinking? The bathroom door opened, _Ivory_ flashed! _Ebony_ crossed under his right arm, and went off twice.

Dante dashed to the—closed front door, another scream and a shotgun blast, the other was holding a limp arm which held the weapon, he then shoved his sword through the door next to him. Dante sprinted forward and fell into oblivion! Before he had fallen, he was totally convinced that this man was not Vergil.

When was he going to hit bottom? He kept falling. As he fell he noticed things started to take color, he saw his body below him and Lady standing before him seemingly yelling at him and waving her hand back and forth.

Lady shook Dante trying to get him back to reality. She patted her hand on his cheek…nothing. Lady shook her head.

Dante finally re-entered his body, the legs of the chair sunk into the floor and a burst of energy was sent through the earth beneath! Lady turned around slowly, and stared wide-eyed at the man before her. Steam was rising from the body of Dante.

"What the hell happened?" asked Lady.

Dante was breathing hard. He raised his head, his eyes met hers. "No…it was me, gah. This is more than screwed up . . ."

Lady moved towards him, and knelt down to face him.

"What? You, how—"

"I was there, watching everything . . ."

"Means there was a wormhole," a voice called out from behind them; Dante drew both weapons. He snickered, and shook his head. The spiky redheaded man only smirked and waved.

"Let me guess," said Dante, "Vincent sent you?" The other nodded. Dante laughed. And Lady had no idea what was going on.

"Alright," said Reno, "are we done yet? Vincent said I need to show you something."

"This something would be?" Lady asked. A large smile spread itself along Reno's face.

"You'll just have to wait and see." Dante rolled his eyes and stood heading towards the door. Hesitantly Lady followed, Reno opened the door and of course Dante walked out without offering for Lady to go ahead. Lady studied Reno and motioned for him to go, but of course he insisted she go first. As she made her way out Reno called out to Dante: "I can see why your "heart" aches for this one!"

"Great," sighed Lady, "two assholes on the first date…"

Dust trailed behind them as the car sped through the gravel road, if you wanted to call it a road, that is, it was more of a desert than anything else. Lady was in the back arms crossed, she was clearly uncomfortable. Dante on the other hand had the seat leaned back with his hands behind his head, eyes closed.

"So," asked Dante, "why didn't we take the chopper?"

Reno laughed: "Not subtle enough." Dante chuckled at this a bit.

The car stopped, Dante opened his eyes to see a large building that looked more like a warehouse. He raised an eyebrow and got out of the car.

"Vincent didn't tell you to bring me here did he?" said Dante.

"Well," Reno scratched the back of his neck, "whatever helps, I thought . . ."

Dante chuckled. They walked into the warehouse, it was odd looking very regal and yet so _very_ gothic. Dante scanned the area. _Why does this place seem so familiar?_

Every now and then the lights seemed to flicker, and he would see images of some pour damned soul lying on the floor dying, crying out for help as they choked on their own blood, or were already dead. He could almost feel Death's cold breath in this large room.

"This used to be a house," commented Reno as he looked to Dante, he noticed the man's face was paling. "I take it you've seen this setting before?"

"This used to be a house?" asked Lady, Reno nodded. "Creepy place . . ."

"I'm sure it had a nice homey feel to it." Once again Reno looked to Dante, his face just kept getting paler and paler.

There was a long moment of silence before anyone spoke, this time it was Dante.

"It did have a homey feel to it," he finally said, "and…and I destroyed it. How could I?" He lifted his eyes from the floor to Reno, but the other man's gaze was fixed upon something else now.

"You gotta wonder how they got this here." The object of interest was a sword; it looked just like Yamato except it was at least two-to-three times longer.

"Dante—"

"Is that..?" Reno nodded, Dante's facial expression changed he was sneering. He whipped out both _Ebony_ and _Ivory_, spun on the heel of his boot and pulled the triggers. Two bodies hit the floor; Reno pulled out his pistol and spun to see who or what they were up against.

"Shin-Ra Warriors?!" shouted Reno. Lady also had her pistol out; the three of them were pulling the triggers at an unpredictable speed.

"Why the hell is Shinra's hounds here?" shouted Dante.

"Good question," spat Reno, "maybe you should ask 'em!"

The Shin-Ra troops were dropping like flies now, only two left out of the squad that barged in. Reno fired his last shot, the bullet landed in the man's chest. After a few heartbeats the warrior fell. Dante holstered the pistols and whipped out _Coyote-A_, the last dropped his weapon when the beady bullets from the shotgun hit his arm he came out with his hand up.

Reno reloaded before asking: "What the freak are you doing?"

The man only laughed, and answered: "We've come to collect!" The blood that formed into a large pool started running towards the wounded man.

"Reno—"

"What do you mean collect?" asked Reno, he was becoming agitated.

"Oh, you must be this "Spirit Reaper" I've been hearing about!" spat Dante.

"Spirit Reaper?" asked Lady. "I haven't heard of them."

"Personally I've never met one, Nero ran into one at least Kyrie tells me," Dante explained as he stared down the wounded man before him, "they take control of the host and collect the spirits of Devils, the spirits of the damned and whatever else is in their way. This one was mentioned in history, unlike the others." Dante reloaded _Coyote-A_, holstered it and unsheathed _Rebellion_.

The blood started collecting under the Spirit Reaper's feet, the pool lurched up like a wave encasing the man; Dante stood there flipping the sword around watching the transformation take place. At first it looked like a cross between a catfish and a giant worm, until the three fingered toothpick like arms sprung forward and the ugly bug eyes took form. Dante sprinted forward, the thing slapped at him, he jumped and landed on its arm and rushed towards its neck. He then zipped forward stabbing it, when this didn't work he sheathed the sword and brought out his guns, giving the creature a wide berth!

He jumped from its shoulders as it swatted at him, he spun facing down firing wildly as he spun drilling the monster's head. He landed beside Lady who was swearing, about not having her rocket launcher, as she unloaded her pistol upon the thing. Dante scanned the room for something he could use against this thing, that's when he spotted it! The sword, he called to Reno who turned and broke the glass, in a blurring dash Dante was there. He caught the sword before it could touch the ground and flung it forward; firing _Ebony_ and _Ivory_ again he then threw _Rebellion_ like a spear! It crashed into the bullets, which molded together and collided with the other sword they plunged deep into the Spirit Reaper's gut.

The creature just laughed, Reno grunted a curse and dashed towards the gleaming hilt of _Rebellion_ he jumped over the creature's hand as it chopped at him and planted his foot on the hilt shoving it deeper! Reno laughed with triumph, until the thing growled furiously and lunged down upon him swallowing Reno in one swift motion.

"RENO!" cried Dante, eyes wide. This was not expected, all of that should have killed it! Cursing profusely as he unloaded _Ebony_, _Ivory_ and _Coyote-A_ upon the monster. He ran forward and rammed his fist into the Spirit Reaper, he felt _Rebellion_ he pulled it out and as he did Dante spotted Reno, but the creature slapped him away! Dante collided with the wall.

"Lady," shouted Dante, "did you bring any Holy Water?"

"Yeah," Lady answered as she shoved another clip into the gun.

"Then hand it to me!" the ball of Holy Water flew into his hands. "Keep this Mother off my back!"

Lady nodded she started pulling the trigger faster now. Dante found two .270 bullets, he hurriedly poured Holy Water on both. He loaded them into _Coyote-A_, he threw the rest out in an arch as he charged _Rebellion_; he sent the charge of energy through the arch which blasted through the creature. That's when Lady noticed Dante had triggered the Devil within him. He spun from around the corner; smirking as the Spirit Reaper's head was locked in his crosshairs. The wound Dante had carved earlier was producing a strange florescent green fluid.

"Haha! You are pathetic!" the creature mocked. "I will crush you!"

"Jackpot!" Dante pulled the trigger; the bullets plunged deep inside the monster's head. Its mouth hung agape for a moment or two before the head erupted and finally the rest of the thing exploded! Green slime covered the man who was now lying on his back on the concrete floor. Dante wiped green goop from his face; he saw Lady was untouched however. Dante gripped his fists until they were pale white, and finally he changed back to normal. He moved towards Reno as he flipped _Coyote-A_ around. Reno looked up and took the outstretched hand; he was pulled to his feet.

Reno cleaned the slime from his suit. "Few seconds earlier would've been better," said Reno, "but, as they say, you get what you paid for."

"I suppose a thank you would be out of character," chided Dante.

"Yeah, yeah, thanks…A-hole," Reno snickered. Lady was the first out of the door, at this both men laughed. The two men headed out the door, but what they didn't notice was the large version of _Yamato_ disappeared.

"She's done," the silver haired man sighed. They climbed into the car; Reno revved up the engine and pealed out.

They were pulling into the city now; it had been a very quiet two hour drive. They were halfway home before Reno chimed in, breaking the silence: "I don't know about you—and I don't really care—but I'm going to go home…and have some sex."

"Thanks for the info," sneered Lady as she rolled her eyes. Dante was still squirming, finally he informed them all he could no longer bare the silence, he turned the radio on. _Great_, thought Lady, _that's all I need_.

He found a station and cranked up the volume. He smiled as the music started to play. Reno—slowly—started to nod his head; Lady had to admit this song was catchy.

"Good old Rage Against the Machine," shouted Dante.

After another hour they were pulling up to the front doors of Devil May Cry. Reno flicked the radio off. Dante stepped out and opened Lady's door, of course Lady was taken aback by this action and slowly got out of the car. Dante was about to close his door when Reno stopped him.

"Hey, Dante, I just remember something that Vincent really told me: Go to hell." Dante's brow furrowed, Reno shrugged; he thought for a moment, his face brightened. He laughed and nodded. Dante knew exactly what Vincent was hinting at; now thinking about it, Dante realized that it had happened four years ago. Those four years felt like an eternity; Vincent had just met Dante they had run into one another while hunting down the same foe who turned out to be a demon leader. Dante had refused the offer at first, but took it afterwards seeing as it paid, and the closer and closer he got to, discovering this man's identity he had come across a horde of demons. Most-likely their leader had gotten jumpy.

It was after this that Dante traveled outside the city to a small venue just south of town; it was there that the Devil Hunter was caught in a brutal brawl with a nasty lot of demons. Though he underestimated a few of them, he was hurt a bit, but in the middle of this fight he found himself back to back with this Vincent Valentine. After the fight had ended for some odd reason they turned on each other, Vincent brought Dante back to "Devil May Cry" but at that time it didn't have a name yet, and after Vincent had patched up Dante's wounds (which he had found odd, this rogue of a man had gotten his hands on some sort of magic). Out of curiosity Vincent had scrolled through Dante's music library and came across a particular song; both men had fallen asleep glaring the other down, while this song played however, Vincent said he had opened his eyes and found himself in Hell!

Dante laughed at the memory as he scrolled through the records until he found what he was looking for he dropped himself on the small couch in the "living area"—basically open space where a second couch happened to be. Nodding his head and humming/singing the words as he drifted off, the last audible thing was the classic rock guitars and the poppy yet very metal drums and the gritty vocals singing: "You can go to hell!"

Everything was silent and dark, until he started to awaken. He heard the gnashing of teeth, the tearing of flesh and the screams of fear and agony. He stood, looking around. _Well_, thought Dante, _here I am again_. He started making his way across the plane, treading through the bloody water. He found the stairway, and slowly made his way down the steps. He saw the hole in the ground and dropped to the bottom, there before him was a bleeding man. The other stood and scooped his hair back, he was holding a scythe.

"Vergil?" Dante reluctantly asked. The other turned to face him, he studied Dante.

"What are you doing here?"

"What, no hello?" stated Dante.

"No need, they will be back any minute now," said Vergil. "Let me guess, you're here because of the spell? The memory of that poor family replaying endlessly and you feel it is slowly killing you? You want a solution?" Dante was taken aback. "Oh don't look so surprised little brother. I have been watching you, every time I close my eyes."

"You too," said Dante, "so it's not just me?"

"No," sighed Vergil, becoming a bit less stiff, "it is just you. It was you all by yourself, except I'm sure the spell it not repeating itself throughout the memory."

"No…it isn't," replied Dante, agitatedly, "and that's gotta be a bad thing?"

"Well what do you think, Dante?" spat Vergil. "I know you're wondering how it worked on you…I've been wondering the same. All I know, is Mundus was able to create Trish a demon's heart through the tragedy—" Dante's eyes widened a bit, his mouth opened—"no you twat, Mundus is dead, he's never coming back not with the leash Lucy's got on him."

"Whoo," sighed Dante sarcastically, "you had me worried for a moment."

"From what I know, Trish can't remember anything," explained Vergil, "though the way you hit her, no wonder…. I'm sure Vincent knows how the spell was used—"

"Trust me he's as clueless as me and you."

"Oh, good something he doesn't know," Vergil said.

"Do you have any idea why I did it—other than the spell?"

"…One thing," answered Vergil, "vengeance…you went crazy, you went on a killing spree, killing everyone and anyone you saw!"

Dante stood there stunned; he couldn't believe what he was hearing. He started contemplating, he could not remember, trying hard—so hard it hurt! He just could not remember!

"When—why the hell—"

"I don't know, dammit!" shouted Vergil. "I think it would be in your best interests, if you were to leave now."

Dante backed away slowly, nodding his head.

"Okay," Dante sighed giving up, "maybe your son holds the key then."

Vergil dropped the scythe; he whipped around grabbing Dante's arm. He turned to face his brother. The look in Vergil's eyes was something Dante couldn't describe; he had never seen it before—at least not from his brother.

"S-son?" asked Vergil. "You've met my son? Ha, my only living legacy . . ."

"Yes, he's a great kid," Dante assured him. Vergil nodded, and waved his hand in an arch, a large doorway opened.

"I suppose he does hold the key." Dante nodded and walked through the portal.

Dante awoke with a start. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he saw the dark haired man slumped over in his chair, he was starring at him.

"Back so soon?" asked Vincent. "I thought you would have been gone longer."

Dante laughed: "So would I . . ."

"I suppose you want me to accompany you to speak with Nero?"

Dante grunted questioningly as he came back to reality.

"…Oh, yeah," answered Dante, "that would be nice." Vincent nodded and stood. Dante was going to be satisfied when he finally put everything together and learned what this was all about. His most recent flashback was doing nothing, sure things weren't as blurry here and there, but they still didn't make much sense! He needed to know what happened before he came into the house, and he figured Nero held that piece of his past.


	5. Chapter 5

**I can't believe I forgot about this: **

**Disclaimer: I do not any of the characters of Devil May Cry or Final Fantasy VII**

Chapter 7

His heart was beating at a rampant pace as he sprinted through the woods, he was coming upon a desolate street. Every so often he would aim the two barreled gun behind him, without looking he would let off a couple rounds. He never knew if one of his shots made contact—Nero did not even know if those…things were still behind him, but he wasn't going to take any chances. Nero could still feel the blood of that devil disguised clown's blood on his face.

Nero had reached the middle of a parking lot outside the local mall. That was when the thought occurred to him, to stop. Skidding on his heels, he stopped and whipped the gun around—nothing, not one Hell Hound, no clowns…absolutely nothing! The only reason he did not stay behind in the woods and fight, was because of the two shotgun blasts, one of which narrowly missed his head! Nero started walking aimlessly towards the mall ahead of him, he just realized he was tired; he holstered his gun, and rolled his jacket sleeves down. If anyone asked about his hand, it was a glove or it was a tattoo.

_Crap_! He had forgotten about his sword; he dug into his jacket and there it was; he let out a breath he did not even know he was holding. Nero flipped out the bag and shoved the sword inside, one of Dante's less obvious ideas. Though, the only trouble Nero ever got in was when someone asked what kind of guitar he had, he would always make up something different, and then the question of why he was carrying it around would always come up. He always answered he was going to a gig or just leaving one—which was usually half true.

As Nero walked through the food court he could have sworn he saw a man in a red trench coat. Suddenly the man vanished! Nero scanned the area carefully, the only guys in red were some younger collage punks in red hoodies, one of them had white hair, but it was up in a combed back Mohawk.

The only reason he thought he could have seen Dante was because the man needed to speak with him. So, one could say he had been on Nero's mind. Nero moved to the last "restaurant" and ordered an energy drink and a bottle of water. He downed the water in two large gulps, it was a refreshing feeling. Nero used the energy drink as food, because to be quite honest he wasn't that hungry but he knew pizza would sound wonderful once he got home. Nero lazily sunk into a chair at the nearest empty table.

It had not been but two minutes after he sat down that some buff hit man wannabe walked by and caught a glimpse of his hand.

"What happened?" he asked peering at that glowing hand. "That doesn't look right man! Don't they have some sort of cream for that?"

"What?" asked Nero acting completely oblivious as he followed the man's gaze. "Oh, this? Yeah, it's a tattoo. I asked the guy to use a special florescent ink."

"A tattoo!? Nice, I'm gonna have to get me one of those!" the man exclaimed. "What's it stand for?"

"Stand for?" Nero thought quickly. "Uh, it is _The Mark of the Dragon_."

After the man left, he was alone. It was then as he sipped at the drink, he could see the nightmare from the past few nights play out. The same scenario, but Nero knew Dante would never—would he?

Nero heard something flash overhead, scanning the area above, now reaching for his gun. A blinding mass of light hovered before him, more of them. Angels what were they up to?

_Angels_, at first Nero had laughed at the thought, when that redhead Turk told him to watch for them. _What was his name? Reno?_ Yeah, that was it. There would not be any harm in finding out what they were up to. He followed the one that was running; he soon found it was only a gang of demons which the angel disposed of quickly. Nero only shrugged, he didn't know why they were there and he really did not care if any reason at all besides killing demons Nero would find it.

He found the elevator; he slid into the small crowd of people and asked if the man nearest the floor controls would press one. He looked at what was left of his drink and took the last swig. Once he stepped out of the elevator he tossed the bottle into a dispenser, after turning around however he thought he saw that same red coat. This time the image did not fade, the man was walking around a group of teens. Nero followed; he glanced from side to side before calling out his name.

"Dante!" Nero noticed the small switch of recognition. Dante, for whatever reason, would not turn around. He had followed a bit farther before calling out again. The man picked up his speed; they were closing in on the restrooms.

Nero made a face. "Hey," called out Nero, "Dante, don't ignore me!"

Finally the man turned around, and before Nero even knew it he was in his face.

"Kid, I'd keep my voice down if I was you," he whispered, "so, what do you want, huh?" Dante crossed his arms, waiting for an answer and shook his head. "Then stop following me and piss off!"

Nero noticed something odd about Dante's face in that moment, it did not look right, something was aloof. Nero decided to pursue this.

"What are you talking about?" Nero asked as Dante turned away. "It's me Nero!"

The other whipped around again. "I don't _know_ you!" he exclaimed, but Nero noticed something there in his voice a little crack that told him, he did know—or was just realizing he knew.

"This is a joke right?" Nero grabbed Dante's arm.

Dante straightened, turned and rammed his fist into Nero's jaw! As Nero went down he lashed out with a delayed uppercut, but after realizing this he used his power in his devil arm to send a burning shockwave of force into the other's chin. As Nero rolled on to his feet he heard a guard nearby shouting: "We have a brawl in the vicinity."

He looked to Dante noticed that the man was standing tall and had pulled out a sawed-off shotgun. His eyes widened.

"Oh, sh—"

The radio crackled again as the guard nearest to them shouted: "Shots fired! I repeat, shots fired, I need back up!"

Dante chuckled, "Yeah, bring 'em." He watched through his crosshairs as another guard rounded the corner. Blood sprayed the wall as the guard's head popped!


	6. Chapter 6

**Warning: For those of you who are reading, this chapter might seem confusing don't worry.**

Chapter 8

"I need backup!" the guard shouted. "Officer has been shot! I repeat; officer has been shot! Need backup ASAP!"

He saw another guard hide behind a bench, the man looked at him. He held his radio up to his lips. He could not tell what he was saying, but he saw Dante.

"Look out!" he shouted. The guard turned to the man in red, the black pistol flashed; he spun falling flat on his face. Nero winced as he moved towards the corner; he held his leg trying to stop the bleeding. He could no longer see Dante, but according to the flashing bullets he was close, but the pillar was in his way!

Now he knew this was not going to end by the fires of guns, but by a showdown of sparking swords! As Nero thought about this he saw that at that moment a SWAT team was assembling; from behind the pillar he could see the sniper about three levels up aiming at this red clothed fiend. Nero was shaking his head and gripping his gun tightly. At that moment he felt the eyes of the other staring at the pillar; he stiffened up as the sword cut through the cement and rolled to the side. Dante smiled, and the next thing Nero knew blood was smeared across his face; the sniper had hit his target.

Even Nero knew that Dante wouldn't go down that easily. The man in red drew himself up and the round popped out of his head. As he glared at Nero, he held up his silver pistol, pulling the trigger. The bullet connected, the sniper dropped from his perch and plopped to floor with a grotesque sound. Dante reached for his sword, Nero only had a few seconds to respond, but there was only one thing to do; and that was to act defeated as he watched the blade fall upon him. He held up arm, the blade clashed against it, but would not go through; Dante was clearly dumbfounded, he smirked as he shoved Dante away, unleashing his own sword in a firry blaze! _Red Queen_ and the other's sword connected in a furious flash of sparks!

There was a flicker in the others step, a flash—he was almost on top of Nero, he parried the blow, the two swords screeched as they pushed and slid across one another. Dante smirked—the next thing Nero knew he was jumping over the other's large blade. Thinking fast as he landed, ducking and dodging the oncoming stabs and swiping when he got the chance. He flipped away from this attacking man; but Dante trailed him this was something Nero was not expecting. The tip of Dante's sword pierced his shoulder, all Nero knew was to drop and sweep Dante off his feet. Now jumping up, Nero flung his Devil arm towards the fiend; he saw the other was surprised by this move. Nero smirked, he then started whaling on Dante smashing his fists in the other's face multiple times and as he brought his blade upon the other; Dante—unexpectedly—dashed away from Nero, bringing his own sword back into the struggle with a furious swing!

It astonished him when his own blade quickly changed positions to block the other! Nero found himself swiping in a fire-filled fury; unfortunately Dante actually looked as if he were having the time his life, as he barely evaded a few blows. In a surprising flash of frustration, Nero swung _Red Queen_ in a horizontal arc, his eyes widened at the sight of blood! He had made contact, a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he looked upon the ripped area of the shirt. Dante was glaring at him with an odd intensity; he flipped his sword around now holding it like a knife.

"I only know of one other person who could achieve this," sneered Dante seemingly out of breath. Nero did not fully understand just what was going on until it was too late to even think of evading!

The wave of energy sent him flying across the room, he crashed through a pillar! He was somewhat lodged in the wall behind that pillar, the rising dust made him gag and cough up blood, Nero frowned upon the tear across his chest. He was seeing red, not of blood but of rage, he knew he was turning. Willing himself to move, he peeled off the wall, his breathing was coming in hard wheezes. Nero dropped to knees, almost seeming defeated.

"You had enough kid?" the other taunted. With burning red eyes, Nero lashed out sending waves of energy that were the size of a normal wall! Dante smashed through the first two, but the last six caught him each time.

Dante was tumbled to the floor, sputtering and gasping, Nero stalked forward drawing _Blue Rose_. He was nearly on top of the other, when someone shouted: "Hands in the air!"

Another: "Drop the weapon!" Everyone could hear the obscenities being fired at Nero.

The SWAT members raised their weapons. He took a deep breath and was about to back away from Dante—suddenly the man's foot flew up into Nero crotch, for a second Nero thought his eyes were going to bug out of their socket! He fell to the floor, and the next thing a member of the SWAT knew the Sergeant's brains were oozing down his goggles and mask! The rest of the SWAT opened up on men, but the one in red was driving through them just as one would an on coming wave!

One left, the man unloaded on Dante, all of which did no good. Naturally in return, Dante unloaded on the man! He turned back to finish off that—the kid was gone! A gunshot was heard from the left, the man's head swiveled to catch a glimpse of two shining bullets and his own blood.

"_You_ had enough?!" Nero shouted.

The other, much to his surprise was standing up: "_Do you_ have _any _idea of how much that stings!"

"Dante, stop this," exclaimed Nero coming to his own senses, "what is wrong with you?"

The other responded by zipping towards him, Nero struck his sword to the floor and rammed his fist into Dante's gut! Dante, however, brought his own sword up and with sheer power flung the kid across the room! Nero recovered quickly; he looked to the sky seeing the glass above, thinking of how he could use this to his advantage. No time for thinking now though, Dante was dashing for him; of course the man tricked Nero into thinking about sword attacks and drew his gun.

The kid cried out in pain as a shot ripped through his arm, and another in his throat! Dante loomed above, he brought the sword up, but Nero was smart enough to roll away. As he stumbled to his feet, he heard shots from behind he braced himself for the worst. Nothing happened, he saw the other using his sword as support; out of the corner of his eye he saw a dark with long black untamed hair, the red cloak was a dead give away: Vincent Valentine.

_Thanks_, he thought. That was when the glass ceiling above shattered as someone lunged towards Dante! He heard a _woof_ and an explosion of energy, and there was… Dante! He flipped from his almost frozen position atop the other's sword.

"Glad to see you held me off this long kid!" the other Dante said with a laugh. After studying the two though, Nero noticed the newly arrived Dante's coat was the right shade of red, but the other was a bit orange.

"Well," the one in orange said, "long time no see, Dante."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 9

Dante (in red) laughed. "Glad to see you remember me!"

"I take it Vincent helped you find me, huh?" sneered Dante.

Dante shook his head and jerked a thumb towards him, he snickered under his breath.

"No, I found you!"

"Then my dear brother was wrong, Nero wasn't the key after all." Dante hung his head.

Dante just chuckled and pointed to Nero while saying: "Who said I had to come in contact with him—physically that is? Fortunately for me he spoke with Trish about his 'gig'."

Dante's smile spread ear-to-ear at the sound of this, he noted that one of the other's lady friends wasn't already striding up beside—or behind him! He quickly checked just in case, his eyes narrowed.

"You've seen everything then?"

Dante grimaced. "Too much, really, I still didn't understand why until now. You're trying to take it all." The other's smile still remained.

"You really think you three alone can stop me?" he asked in a snide manner.

Dante twirled his forefinger around as he spoke tauntingly.

"I know how you work, that's why I brought them." Dante looked up to see Angels and on the balcony above both Lady and Trish. He could feel someone starring at him, he turned to the left to see the red-headed Turk, Reno starring at him spinning his hit stick, and he pulled his hand from his pocket and waved.

Dante gave him the finger.

"You too, bud!" cried Reno sarcastically.

Dante started moving to his right. Naturally the other moved to his left, both men were glaring the other down.

"Just look at this," said Dante, "the lighting is right, the dance floor is set…the only thing missing is the music." He looked up to the man in the music store; he was standing before something similar to a jukebox. "Hey, old man, give us music!"

It took a moment before the man realized the other below was talking to him. The man looked at the machine and punched a couple buttons. As the music started the two men drew their swords, but something was wrong, both straitened up.

"Oh come on!" they both yelled simultaneously, "that's not music, turn that crap off!" Reno was making his way to the machine before the thought even crossed Dante's mind. "Play some Slayer, Demon Hunter…I don't care, Godsmack, but not that crap!"

However the one in the slightly orange called out: "Play some Duran Duran, Theory of a Dead Man…I don't care, Nickleback, but not that crap!"

Dante's shoulders slumped; he turned to the other he thought he might gag and shook his head irritably.

"I can't believe I'm remotely related to you!"

Reno, as he came upon the old man and the machine, he started to hear his name called out by the two almost identical men below. Unfortunately for the old man, who would not let go of the machine, Reno whacked him across the face with his hit-stick. He looked to the two men.

"Any requests?" the comment was more out of sarcasm than sincerity.

However the Dante in orange shouted: "Give it away!"

Dante, on the other hand, was absolutely disgusted.

"The Red Hot Chili Poopers, are you kidding me?!" he had more intent to kill the man now than he ever did before!

Reno scrolled through the archive. _Ok the _real_ Dante would want something heavy_. He grinned as he came across the perfect song. The main riff kicked in, Dante started to nod he leapt forward smashing his blade across the other with great force sending a shower of sparks all around them!

"You…pig," growled Dante. He sliced, only to miss; Dante came around from the left the blades crossed yet again.

As Dante swung the other spun out of the way, a stab—he parried it from behind! Turning back to face his opponent sending a flurry of quick stabs his way, Dante was able to block a few of them, but one threw him off guard. Dante spun his sword around and zipped forward, Dante (in orange) shielded himself with the flat side of his sword, only to be thrown backwards by the force of the blow! The other flashed and was right in front of him! He spun out of the way of Dante's attack and brought the weapon down with great intensity! Somehow the other blocked it; they were glaring at each other, now in a death lock. Both had not even broken a sweat.

"Pig?" Nero muttered audibly the sound of his own voice made him jump. "You're the one listening to Nickleback."

Dante clinched his teeth and gave Dante a swift but sharp kick to the nuts! He turned pointing at Nero.

"I kicked your father's ass and now I'm gonna kick yours!" he shouted in a blinding rage. Fortunately for Nero, Dante had balls of steal and was able to slide-kick Dante at the ankles knocking him on his side!

Dante jumped to his feet, the other looked up at him, pushed up and off the floor. The two swords collided once more, sending firry sparks all around them! Dante shoved the other back and waved a signal. The Angels swooped down the heavenly swords collided with Rebellion. Dante sliced through a few of the Angels, he felt a sting at his side, turned to see the Angels had surrounded him. What looked to be hot flames shot in all directions! Dante furiously shoved, stabbed, and swiped his way through most of the swarm of Angels until the leader—most-likely an Arch Angel—signaled for the others to withdraw.

That's when he saw the black pistol aimed in his direction; before he knew it he was dodging bullets! As he flashed to the other side of the room one of the bullets managed to pierce his orange tinted coat. Once he landed on the other side of the room, he pulled out his black pistol and pulled the trigger. Dante noticed that the other held his Ebony in his right hand, he also noted as his own _Ebony_ flashed that the other's pistol was a Glock.

"Crap," Dante murmured as he squeezed off about twenty rounds in a flash! The bullets collided crushing each other on impact. Once Dante let off his final round, he had to role to dodge the last four. He pulled out a fresh clip and slapped it in.

Dante spun from around the pillar and brought Rebellion upon the other, but he unsheathed his, pulling it up just in time to block the oncoming attack. Spinning around, letting his sword slide under Rebellion, and swiped. Dante was behind him, he spun with a swing. He slammed his sword into the other's, both pulled back. As they did the song ended. Dante drew both Glocks, unloading—on the empty space.

Dante looked up to the floor above, and smiled. He was right on time the man was sprinting towards the railing, and he leapt over it unleashing his massive sword. As his and the other Dante's swords collided! There was an explosion of sparks. The man with the large sword, crookedly half smiled. Dante studied the man, eyeing the wolf on his shoulder and the spiky blonde hair.

"Cloud Strife," Dante sighed, "a pleasure to meet you again."

As the next song kicked in, Dante (in red) started to nod. Cloud glared at the other.

"Nice to see you," Cloud nodded. "Vincent, you ready?" Vincent nodded and almost smiled. The shove sent Dante sprawling across the room, he tumbled end over end before smashing into one of the pillars! As he stood he saw from the smoke a shadow coming in his direction, three flashes of light; he tossed himself to the side away from the bullets, he heard the sound of a fourth and felt the three bullets rip through him.

He clutched at his sternum, turning slightly as he pulled out his silver Glock; suddenly he felt the stinging of blunt pressure on his jaw, nose and the taste of not only blood but musty leather! As he pushed himself up off the ground, Cloud was standing over him. Dante's eyes flared; there was a burst of energy as he released the demon from within! The wave of energy was so explosive it sent Cloud flying through the wall! Screaming was heard as he stood, Cloud sprinted through the cravats in the wall, and Vincent let off three more rounds before reloading. Dante's demonic sword plunged through Vincent's stomach!

Thrusting himself forward furiously at the blonde swordsmen. Blazing energy shot from his back. Cloud, cursing as he moved himself from the path of Dante's firry blade! Cloud turned to see the demon before him, the Buster sword crackled as it scraped along the other's blade. The blond rolled back away from his opponent, for behind his demon assailant was another. A four barreled gun was pressed against the back of Dante's head. Dante dropped spinning himself around swiping Vincent at the ankles knocking him off his feet as he launched the four beams of energy. Cloud brought up his sword deflecting the blast; it ricocheted into the demonic figure below. Sending Dante tumbling across the room, Lady brought up her rocket launcher to bear, and Dante (now in his regular human form) leapt upon the missile. Dante (in red) sneered as he drew _Ebony_ and destroyed the rocket!

Cloud flung his sword towards the falling Dante. The Buster sword hit its target pinning him against the wall, Dante ordered Nero to plunge _Yamato_ into the earth. Nero did as he was instructed, Dante was sprinting for it, and he looked up to see the other was trying—partially succeeding—in freeing himself. He launched himself at the lodged _Yamato_, while in midair he drew _Ebony_ yet again letting off three rounds each becoming one with Dante's face!

As he came down he drove _Rebellion_ into the shimmering hilt of _Yamato_, there was a bright light flaring as the two blades merged with the Earth. There was a clattering and gunshots then the terrified shriek of a woman.

"Did you really think it was that easy? Do you honestly believe _you_ can defeat me alone?" mocked Dante.

"Not alone," countered Dante breathing deeply, "but he can." He motion to the spot where the battle began, and to the sky. The music stopped completely as the power went out the room was pitch black for a few seconds before the backup generator came to life flooding the mall in an eerie blue light.

Dante, let up his grip on Lady long enough for her to slip from his grip, but she lost her footing and fell over the railing to the floor below, Dante was there to catch her in a flash, as the one he gestured to descend from the Heavens. The swordsman landed like a cat! The other Dante however, was having a hard time digesting this. The man was moving towards him at a calm pace, his sleek sword at the ready but still passive. Dante, after coming to grips with this awful reality, sneered.

"Sephiroth," he breathed.

The other looked up and a slow ear-to-ear spine chilling grin crept its way across his face.

"Good," he said in that deep, calm yet very cold voice, "you remembered."


	8. Chapter 8

**Authors Notes: A fitting ending, though I don't know I was satisfied with it—not necessarily pleased, yet it is a quality **_**Devil May Cry**_** ending; (by the way, no I did not enjoy DMC 2). **

Chapter 10

The silver-haired swordsman was swift as lightning. Dante was clutching his side. Dante saw the acid green fluids spilling from the wounds. The other was becoming agitated even more; he stabbed with a rapid ferocity Sephiroth dodged each of them with a laugh. With a sneer Dante brought his black Glock to bear and pulled the trigger, unleashing a myriad of bullets upon the flying fiend! The swordsman blocked a few of the shots; he narrowed his eyes as he noticed out of the corner of his eye another bullet coming his way he batted it back at Dante. He flashed across the room coming down upon Sephiroth, the two swords collided. Dante leapt away from this monster, Sephiroth went after him. His sleek sword slid across Dante's _Shadow Sword_, he carved a good sized chunk of his leg coming back around swiping swiftly, stabbing his shoulder and stomach! Another swing but Dante was able to parry it, knocking it away.

Dante, Glock still drawn fired and zipped forward catching Sephiroth in the arm. He was not fazed at all. He merely turned and acknowledged the blade, whipping his up Dante saw it and his face began to pale.

"Remind you of anything?" he asked tauntingly. He rammed the weapon through his sternum. Dante backed away sliding off the sword, stunned; Sephiroth pulled the fake Rebellion (_Shadow Sword_) from his shoulder and threw it at Dante—who somehow managed to catch it.

Cloud was waiting behind him, slashing through Dante! Sephiroth flew through his side, and then cleaved diagonally from his potion, green fluids spilled rapidly from his wounds! Vincent gave him a wide birth through the chest, Nero spun through him with a blazing _Red Queen_! While the conflict between Dante and Sephiroth was raging on, Reno had tossed him _Gilgamesh_, which he now used brake through the other!

_ Perfect_, he thought as he saw Reno and Trish had finished the pentagram of thorns on the wall which they had been pushing him towards. Sephiroth leapt forward and shoved his sword through Dante's chest pinning him to the pentagram.

Dante struggled franticly to free himself.

"You can't—I can just come back!" he cried.

Sephiroth smirked, and shook his head slightly, and spoke softly: "No…you won't."

Dante smiled as he pulled the trigger, ripping through the other. He waved as a portal emerged from the wall.

"You—"

"Can," interrupted Dante sighting his head in his crosshairs, "go to hell!"

The final blast ripped through the other's skull half destroying it; his cry was lost as he dissolved into the abyss! Dante turned to Sephiroth and nodded as the swordsman disappeared. Cloud watched; he was seeing a different man fade before him, the Sephiroth of old, not the monster. Cloud nodded slightly, Nero strode up beside the spiky haired man, wiping his hands as _Yamato_ appeared in the floor before him. Dante's was beside him; he lifted it and latched it to his back.

"So," asked Lady as Nero opened his mouth, "mind explaining what all that was about?"

Dante just laughed walking towards the stairs. Vincent knew Dante was not in the mood, nor did he want the others to know. He decided to explain.

"Dante, the dead one, he was of another universe. In this separate realm, his brother, Vergil roams free in this world. While Dante waits in the abyss, somehow _that_ Dante came across a spell—" he turned to Lady "—the same inscribed on the Hell Gate you and Dante stumbled upon. It gave him the power to control and in the end possess Dante; he used him to wreak havoc upon the family. That family happened to be Trish's human family, before Mundus restored her body, and when Dante opened that Hell Gate making his other able to release himself in flesh.

"Sephiroth managed to meet this other Dante in the alternate realm of the afterlife and locked him away, and that's how they knew each other. Unfortunately, I don't even understand why he chose Trish's family, only _Dante_ knows that."

Nero scratched his head. Cloud was already heading for the exit, Vincent followed. Nero's eyes fell upon Reno.

"Don't tell me you're staying behind!" he exclaimed.

Reno held up his hands in a factious defense. Smirking as he turned and said: "My ride is waiting outside."

As he headed down the steps, Nero shook his head.

"How did we get involved with him?"

"Just another day on the job," sighed Lady.

Dante looked up at the sky, seeing an image of his father. _Thanks_. As he strolled towards home he noticed something behind him, he whipped around slicing through the demon—a clown! Clowns were all over the area, the one before him was dissolving in a puddle of green.

"Great," Dante sighed, "as if I didn't have enough problems, looks like there's another Hell Gate!" He smirked as he drew his weapons and started to unload upon the clowns! _They were the ones following me, and somehow…the other…me used them_. Dante's smile grew wider as Nero streaked through a row of them and slammed another head first into the pavement!

"You think you're ready?" Nero laughed.

"You know…me," Dante shouted as he cut through three more clowns, "I'm always ready!" Another clown bounded from the side, Ivory was out in time to blow a hole large enough Dante could see through. He laughed tauntingly as he leapt away from a swarm of others and rained lead upon them! Dante landed on the next braking his neck.

"Let's take this," Nero shouted, "we should be done—" he spotted the wave of clowns heading for them "—in another hour!"

"Yeah," Dante said with an ear-to-ear grin as he cleanly cut through a much larger clown. "Let's take this all the way to hell!"

He unleashed a hurricane of bullets on the next wave of clowns!


End file.
